Which classes are most useful?
Which non-computer science degrees apply to skills needed for a career in software development?
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Which classes are most useful?
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Oldest comments (48)
Degrees regarding knowledge on empathy, conversation & communication — They’re pillars for developers who want to excel at their job. Communication is simply so important!
As someone with a Bachelor degree in English, I've become the go to guy in any development job for presentations, proposals, and communication. I can convey so much more to non-technical staff in ways they understand than I would otherwise.
It’s a skill often overlooked, yet such a cornerstone. I’ve been reading and writing blog posts so I can practice my communication skills! In result, I’m now able to express myself in a more concise, clearer way.
I had an English major manager for a few years. He was great.
Agreed. However, In other third world countries, I have to communicate with other people with different languages at different times. I'm so grateful for them to adjust my inexperienced communication skills.
As a native language speaker, I can empathise with you. Language barriers can seem daunting, but if anything, they help us simplify our vocabulary so that it can be understood by everyone.
I think it depends a lot on what you're looking to achieve in your career.
My degree is in Economics, a bit of Business as well.
The business & marketing side of it helped a lot with entrepreneurial initiatives, which is my main driver in tech.
The economics & statistics side of my course provided a basis for wrapping my head around machine learning.
Years ago I developed an autonomous software to track corporate investment announcements on the web. Kind of "Tesla is opening a new manufacturing facility in Germany". I extracted the data using NLP and organize info in a searchable database with company name, HQ address, target country, type of investment, etc. I sold this info to people interested in it.
Having an economics background was key to this experience. But it might be useless to most developers...
Math? Just by seeing the amount of math undergrads aiming for computer science graduate degree.
Patience!
I think any class that makes you problem solve. My degree is in Lighting, and with it, I've learned different ways to approach problems. It's also taught me that looking at the whole picture is sometimes a good way to see a solution that will work.
Lighting... That's fascinating.
Studied theatre in school as my passion, and took a few computer science classes throughout the 4 years. I have to say that the theatre degree taught me how to communicate openly and how to problem-solve creatively.
Knowledge is important. But there is human skill more valuable to get than a career filled with many recognizations. I'm android developer student and my knowledge is pretty good, but I have to learn a lot of conversation skills to share my opinions and the university has done a good job with me in this affaire.
Important subjects like programming languages should be valuable when you search for useful classes. Math is important, but I believe that Logic is more important than math.
I have a bachelor's of Law. I'm not sure which classes can be helpful for a software dev but I'm quite sure my bachelor helped me in nothing.
From my personal experience as a History major, I've absolutely benefited from learning both the ability to research efficiently, and to write concisely but descriptively.
Business and marketing will help. Even if you never have to do them, it will help with grocking the bigger picture.
I have a bachelor of commerce and it's been a real differentiator for me. I have training in marketing, finance, economics, management, accounting, business law, risk management, negotiating, HR, etc. I can fit in with both business types and the technical people (and translate seamlessly for each group).
Technology is something that spans all fields and can benefit from expertise of all types. I've found my theater experience to be extremely valuable, as well as philosophy and visual art.
Theater and visual art and in communicating and collaboration, while philosophy helps with what's important to communicate.